The challenge in Vermont is that there are very few active hams here. The population of the state is about 625,000 people. We only saw 40 unique Vermont callsigns in the recent Vermont QSO party, and we've guesstimated that there are perhaps 100 hams active on HF in the entire state.

As Jim noted, active is the key word here. The number of Vermont hams who are routinely active on HF is far, far less than the 2,000+ listed in the database.

If you look at Jim's list of states with fewer hams than Vermont, all of them are known as challenge states for completing WAS. For example, in order to complete my 20 meter WAS, I still need Delaware and Rhode Island. The issue there isn't just skip zone.

Put another way, Jim just pointed out that there are more licensed hams in Alaska or Hawaii than there are in Vermont.

I can recall getting a request from a Brazilian station to make a sked to complete his WAS, which I did. More recently, a local club just got a request from a ZS for a sked with Vermont on 60 meters.

As Jim noted, active is the key word here. The number of Vermont hams who are routinely active on HF is far, far less than the 2,000+ listed in the database.

If you look at Jim's list of states with fewer hams than Vermont, all of them are known as challenge states for completing WAS. For example, in order to complete my 20 meter WAS, I still need Delaware and Rhode Island. The issue there isn't just skip zone.

Put another way, Jim just pointed out that there are more licensed hams in Alaska or Hawaii than there are in Vermont.

I can recall getting a request from a Brazilian station to make a sked to complete his WAS, which I did. More recently, a local club just got a request from a ZS for a sked with Vermont on 60 meters.

Vermont can be considered "rare DX" by North American standards.

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All true - and there's more, as revealed by the stats available via the link I posted.

One thing I've noted is that the license class distribution varies quite a bit by state. Someone else can calculate the "hams per capita" numbers.

There's also the question of "where you look". In the November CW SS, I usually have no problem working all the "rare" US states except for Pacific (which includes Hawaii), Alaska, and maybe one or two others.

If you ignore the limited HF privileges of Technicians and Novices and focus on General, Advanced, and Extra as core HF users, you can come to some interesting conclusions.

Alaska and Hawaii have about 1,700 licensed hams each. Vermont, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Rhode Island are all pretty much at parity, with about 1,000 each. Delaware is a smidgen lower at just over 900. North Dakota is the lowest at less than 800.

While the number of active hams everywhere is much lower than licensed, to a first approximation we assume that the percentage of active hams is roughly equal across each state.

This means that Alaska likely has 50% more hams than Vermont. Hawaii also has 50% more hams than Vermont.

Vermont, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Rhode Island would all be about equally difficult to work if propagation is comparable from your location. Delaware is slightly harder (about 10% fewer hams), and North Dakota substantially harder (20% fewer hams). I can tell you that I very rarely hear any of these 5 states (excluding Vermont) in my routine HF operations.

On the other hand, location and propagation do matter. I hear Illinois significantly more often than Washington, yet Washington has 35% more licensed hams.

Given my past experience, I suspect I'm going to need skeds to work Delaware and Rhode Island on 20 meters. In everyday life I don't hear them on that band, and in contests, they are on but I'm likely to be drowned out by louder stations farther away.

W1SJ is one of the most active ops in Vermont. He's passionate about ham radio. AA1SU is also very active. KI1P (formerly N1GBB), K1BIF (formerly KB1WXM), KB1FRW, K1VMT, W1JXN, K1ZK, W1VT, K1MZM, and W1SFR, can also be heard. N1UR is a major contester. W1AIM is very active on HF and VHF/UHF. And I'm on a fair amount myself.

I can't quantify it, but I believe my list of 14 hams above accounts for a disproportionate amount (though certainly not all) of the HF activity in Vermont. (No doubt I've missed someone important, but that doesn't change the conclusion.) If you need to work Vermont, it's quite likely that you'll be working someone on that list.

The 80/20 Pareto rule applies here; if you have 100 people doing something at least occasionally, the bulk of the activity comes from the most active 20%.

W1SJ is one of the most active ops in Vermont. He's passionate about ham radio. AA1SU is also very active. KI1P (formerly N1GBB), K1BIF (formerly KB1WXM), KB1FRW, K1VMT, W1JXN, K1ZK, W1VT, K1MZM, and W1SFR, can also be heard. N1UR is a major contester. W1AIM is very active on HF and VHF/UHF. And I'm on a fair amount myself.

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Minor error -- I should not have included W1VT, who is based in CT. I had confused him with "the other Zach", K1ZK. Oops!